Athletes Who Have Openly Trashed Lionel Messi

After an emotional end to a long-running career at FC Barcelona and a difficult two-season stint at Paris Saint-Germain, celebrated soccer star Lionel Messi was undoubtedly off to a great start following Inter Miami CF's Leagues Cup win in August 2023. A penalty shoot-out against Nashville SC earned Inter Miami its first title since its entry into Major League Soccer.

The announcement of Messi's move to the United States saw a spike in business activity worldwide, per ESPN. eBay searches for Messi-related souvenirs rose up 75%. Similarly, the demand for tickets for his early matches soared up to 1000%. The Messi Effect also had Inter Miami merchandise flying off shelves. His first game that July was a star-studded affair featuring appearances by LeBron James, Kim Kardashian and her son Saint West, Serena Williams, Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham, and a string of other familiar faces. On social media, Messi also received nod in a tweet by Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes.

While Messi's fanbase is just as loud as the celebrities who adore him, not everyone holds the Argentine footballer in high regard. These key figures in the sports world proved just that, either through one-off incidents or repeated unflattering comments that were made public. Here are the athletes who have openly trashed Lionel Messi.

Former Paris Saint-Germain winger Jérôme Rothen didn't hold back his true feelings on Lionel Messi when the Ligue 1 team lost to Bayern Munich on March 8, 2023. The 2-0 loss put an end to PSG's UEFA Champions League quarter finals bid. It was an early exit that Rothen didn't take kindly when he spoke to RMC Sport. "Adios, Leo," a disheartened Rothen said (as translated by SportsKeeda). "... Go back to I don't know where. I wish you the best but not at Paris Saint-Germain. ... I've been disappointed since he arrived."

Rothen's sentiments were echoed when he addressed Messi's apparent lack of commitment toward PSG on "After Foot." According to him, the 2022 FIFA World Cup Golden Ball winner allegedly never showed up to matches he deemed important. It goes without saying that Rothen was the happiest man when Messi was sanctioned by PSG after he made a trip to Saudi Arabia without the soccer club's permission. He called it "the first step toward the end of a fiasco," per RMC Sport.

Messi left Paris Saint-Germain altogether and would later reveal that the team wasn't a place he considered home. "My departure to Paris was not something I wanted," Messi said at his first Inter Miami press conference (translation by AFP). He added that adjusting to life after his tenure at FC Barcelona was hard, but the decision to move to the United States was more calculated.

Lionel Messi and Enzo Fernández each scored a goal against Mexico that handed the Argentines a 2-0 win at the 2022 FIFA World Cup games in Doha, Qatar. Footage of a locker room celebration by Argentina's national soccer team after the victory prompted a reaction from Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez, who wrote in since-deleted posts on Twitter, "Did you see Messi cleaning the floor with our jersey and flag???? He better pray to God that I don't find him!" Another tweet that's remained live read in part, "Just as I respect Argentina, you have to respect Mexico!!"

Álvarez was referring to a brief moment that showed Messi taking off a boot and lightly striking a team Mexico jersey right in front of him. The social media platform's users and Messi's friend, Sergio Agüero, were quick to point out Álvarez's misinterpretation of the video, but he initially stood his ground. Two days later, Álvarez made an apology post to Messi and team Argentina, through which he claimed he was moved by the heat of the moment. "Every day we learn something new and this time it was my turn," he partly wrote.

Prior to Lionel Messi's departure from FC Barcelona, former Argentine goalkeeper Hugo Gatti made remarks that he needed to extend his wings beyond the club, as he was supposedly in a comfort zone. Gatti, who argued passionately on "El Chiringuito de Jugones" in October 2019, said (translation via Marca), "It seems as if I am anti-Argentine, but until Messi plays in the big games, he will continue to be a player of home games. ... Messi plays when they let him play. It's very easy to play with everything in your favor at home."

Gatti added fuel to an already existing battle of the greats, siding with Cristiano Ronaldo as the better player. "He [Messi] has to have balls to go to Real Madrid and prove everything there like Cristiano," Gatti quipped. In his opinion, Messi didn't qualify to be compared to the likes of late soccer giants Pelé, Diego Maradona, and Dutch soccer phenomenon Johan Cruyff unless he played in the Champions League and the World Cup.

At the time, Messi's last Champions League win with FC Barcelona was in 2015, and in 2022, Gatti refused to eat humble pie when Argentina won the World Cup. In a phone call to "El Chiringuito de Jugones," he declared Kylian Mbappé the competition's most skilled player.

The war of legends is often left to anyone but them. However, in the case of the late three-time World Cup winner Pelé, Lionel Messi wasn't in his list of extremely talented soccer players for the fact that he apparently isn't multi-skilled on the field. Pelé told Brazilian outlet Folha de S.Paulo in 2018, "How can you compare a guy who heads well, shoots with the left, shoots with the right, with another who only shoots with one leg, only has one skill, [and] doesn't head well?" Ironically, Messi would later break Pelé's record as South America's top scorer in a 2021 hat-trick against Bolivia.

Then a former Brazilian Minister of Sports, Pelé mentioned the late Diego Maradona as the most gifted soccer player he'd ever witnessed on the field. Who else was on his list? You may ask. Former German central defender Franz Beckenbauer and the late FC Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff. Pelé's top choice, Maradona, accidentally let his thoughts about Messi known years prior when a private conversation the pair had at an event leaked online in 2016. "He [Messi] is a good person, but he has no personality," Maradona was heard saying to Pelé. "He doesn't have much personality like how to be a leader."

Following the death of Diego Maradona in 2020, Al Hilal coach Jorge Jesus paid tribute to the one-time World Cup winner at a press conference. "Maradona was the greatest, not only for what he was as a genius and player, but for the way he showed [it]," Jesus said. "... He was top of the world, but he had a passion for the game, he was born to be a footballer."

In his praise of the late soccer icon, Jesus took a jab at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, whom he claimed showed no deep-seated emotion toward the sport. "Nowadays, between the two best in the world, [Cristiano] Ronaldo has a little bit of that [passion], Messi has nothing. He has nothing ... of passion. He's a great player." However, to avoid the risk of a misquote, Jesus clarified that he was in no way trying to tarnish Messi's name, but rather giving an objective take on Messi and Maradona's relationship with the sport. Jesus also spoke highly of Pelé as one of the world's star players during his reign.